Mono - You Are There

Mono
You Are There
Temporary Residence Ltd.
Grade: A-/A

Like their previous records and most recently Walking Cloud and Deep Red Sky…there is only way to truly listen to a Mono record: with headphones on and really loud. Otherwise, you’ll completely miss out on the haunting genius and explosive movements that lie underneath an often subtle veil. Again recorded by Steve Albini in Chicago, You Are There slides six songs of ominous, floating cinema that is virtually impossible to give due justice describing in words. Just try describing a band like Mono to an average person you meet on the street – you can’t do it, you’ll get frustrated because they can’t understand, you throw up your arms, walk away, come back and say something like ‘take the structure of classical music and set it to spacey guitar instrumentals’ or whatever…still won’t help. Even if you can’t describe Mono, you can still enjoy such choice numbers as the thirteen-minute opener “The Flames Beyond the Cold Mountain” all the way to the gorgeous closer “Moonlight.” Again, before you utilize Mono’s relaxing background music powers, you must expose yourself and concentrate to all of You Are There. Further, Japan is not in the US, so if Mono is coming through your town you have to check them out.